 |
Nominated last year for an Academy Award® in the Documentary Short category, ASYLUM chronicles a young Ghanaian woman's desperate attempt to escape the traditional practice of female circumcision and her journey to a new country - where she battles U.S. immigration policies.
Many of the world's refugees are women and their dependent children. Some women seeking political asylum fit the typical mold of those who have been arrested, tortured or persecuted for opposing government policies. But others face gender-related oppression, which can entail forced marriage, sterilization, abortion, domestic violence and female genital mutilation.
ASYLUM tells the dramatic story of a young Ghanaian woman's entanglement in politics and ancestral custom. She goes in search of her father for his blessing on her impending marriage to the young man she loves. Her joy at finding her father turns into a nightmare, however, as he insists she submit to his choice of an arranged marriage and undergo female genital mutilation, as it is the custom in his tribe. She flees her father's village and, after a month of hiding, is smuggled out of her country into the U.S., where she seeks political refugee status. Instead, she becomes enmeshed in the unsympathetic U.S. immigration system.
On arrival at Newark Airport in New Jersey, she is questioned by customs officers, who quickly determine that her passport is fake, and threaten to send her back to Ghana on the next plane. She admits to the fraud, but also pleads her case, and tells officials she will die if she is returned to Ghana. Though officials end up agreeing not to deport her, the alternative is hardly cause for celebration: She is transferred to a "detention" center, which she considers a prison.
In addition to an Oscar® nomination, ASYLUM has received several prestigious awards, including Best Documentary at the 2003 Aspen Shorts Fest; Best Short at the Denver International Film Festival; the Crystal Heart Award at the Heartland Film Festival; the Audience Award at the Sao Paulo Short Film Festival; and a Honorable Mention at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival.
ASYLUM is a film by Sandy McLeod & Gini Reticker; executive producers, Deborah Shaffer, Natalie Reuss, Sandy McLeod and Gini Reticker; producer, Gini Reticker; director, Sandy McLeod; cinematographers, Ellen Kuras & Kirsten Johnson; editor, Kate Taverna.
|
|
|
   |
